


Learning to Share

by caffeine-vaccine (HashtagLEH)



Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [6]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Ben Tries (Disney: Descendants), Bisexual Mal (Disney), Confused Ben (Disney: Descendants), Core Four, F/F, F/M, Girls Kissing, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Movie: Descendants (2015), Not Canon Compliant, POV Ben (Disney: Descendants), Polyamorous Descendants, Polyamory Negotiations, Protective Mal (Disney), ben needs a hug, d1 rewrite, so I decided to include it here anyway, that's not really in this fic but Ben kind of negotiates with himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-19 03:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22270834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HashtagLEH/pseuds/caffeine-vaccine
Summary: “I was kissing her to convince her to go to class,” Evie said flatly, brown eyes watching him carefully. “Manipulation.”Ben shook his head. “It’s not manipulation for two girlfriends to be consensually kissing each other.”“We’renotgirlfriends!” Mal and Evie both denied immediately, voices overlapping with their dissent.“Wedon'tlove each other,” Mal hurried to say.“We’re justallies,” Evie agreed firmly. Ben decided not to draw attention to how they were holding hands.
Relationships: Ben & Evie & Mal (Disney: Descendants), Evie/Mal (Disney), pre - Ben/Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil, pre- Ben/Evie/Mal, pre- Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants)
Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600366
Comments: 6
Kudos: 323





	1. Chapter 1

Ben had known that the four kids from the Isle had been close even before being the only ones to be dropped among people they saw as enemies a couple of weeks beforehand. They had mentioned a few times how they were in a gang, and how they had relied primarily on each other on the Isle. A couple of others had been mentioned not by name but by responsibility whom they were something like allies with – Ben wasn’t totally sure of the particulars, but he knew the pirates were their biggest allies. (Or at least, as much allies as they were rivals. He thought. That was all kind of fuzzy, and with no names to keep track of it was that much harder to keep everything else straight. Carlos had once mentioned a son of Captain Hook though, so at least he could be sure of the pirate part.)

So, seeing how they gravitated around each other even without thinking about it, it was easy to tell that they all trusted each other immensely, that they were a team. Ben was honestly a little jealous of the teamwork and friendship that they had, because he had never really been _close_ with anyone. He didn’t have even one best friend, let alone three. Audrey was great, but he didn’t feel like they were all that close. More like they were friends of circumstance than anything else. Most of the people in Auradon just saw him as the future king, and so there had been an emotional distance there since before they could speak. He had hoped that bringing kids over from the Isle, that despite their upbringing with parents who hated them, that he could start fresh, make some real friends. It was a bit selfish of him to use his status as future king to make this Proclamation, but he justified it to himself that it wasn’t _just_ so he could have friends. He genuinely wanted to help the innocent, too.

He hadn’t known that the four he had picked were already in a gang, though. He wasn’t exactly disappointed that they banded together, because he wouldn’t want anyone to be uncomfortable among strangers, but he was disheartened that it appeared that these four probably wouldn’t want to be friends with him. They already had each other, after all. He simultaneously cursed his luck and praised it – that out of all the kids he could choose, he happened to pick four who were already set in their members, were already in a group, while at the same time he was glad that at least they weren’t scared, because they had their friends there with them.

But, he couldn’t help the small crush that developed upon first sight of Mal, and only grew as he got to know her more, and so he kept trying to make friends with them in hopes of getting in her good graces. He was delighted when it looked like Mal might like him back, but self-doubt kept him from asking her on a date. After all, what if it was just wishful thinking?

Just a couple of weeks after they had arrived, he was headed to the Headmistress’ office in the middle of his Economics class to talk to her about coronation stuff next month. Lunch had just ended, so everyone was supposed to be in their fifth period classes, but he wasn’t altogether too surprised to discover Evie and Mal still in the hall by their lockers.

What he _was_ surprised by was how their lips were locked, passionately kissing each other. Evie was clearly the one dominating the kiss – which Ben _definitely_ wouldn’t have guessed – with one hand in Mal’s hair and the other at her waist, thumb moving in circles underneath her shirt against her skin.

Ben stopped short, taking all of this in at a glance, and feeling very confused as his brain struggled to catch up. It was a few more seconds before the girls’ lips parted with a wet sound, breathing a bit heavily.

“Okay, fine, you win,” Mal said, in a weak voice that sounded very much unlike her usual self. “You happy now?”

“Extremely,” Evie hummed, leaning forward and pecking Mal on the nose, almost like a reward. Mal sighed a little and looked about to say something when her eyes went up and caught his gaze. Immediately a look of terror swept over her face, her entire body tensing up. Evie saw the change in her – girlfriend’s? – posture and spun around, looking ready to fight. But when she saw him, she imitated Mal’s fear almost exactly. Ben looked behind him, expecting something there to merit the fear, but there was nothing there. Which meant that, for some reason, they were afraid of _him_.

“How long have you been standing there?” Mal demanded, voice harsh. Ben hadn’t heard that tone in days – after she had begun to trust that Ben was looking out for what was best for them, her disagreements with him and with others had become more diplomatically spoken. He now recognized that the harshness was borne out of fear. He just couldn’t figure out exactly what the two were afraid of.

“I mean – not long?” Ben said uncertainly, still reeling with what he had seen and the implications of what it meant. A light bulb went on in his head, and he said, “I’m not homophobic – you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Great,” Mal snapped, but she didn’t exactly sound grateful. “So you won’t send us back to the Isle for being girls, yippee.”

Ben blinked at her, confused by the way she had said that. It had implied that he was going to be sending them back for some other reason, which he had no intention of doing, not the least of which because they hadn’t actually done anything to merit their exile.

“Why would I want to send you guys back?” he said cluelessly.

“Because manipulation is evil,” Evie told him, voice quieter but still hard. Her face was expressionless like it got when she was nervous. “And evil doesn’t belong in Auradon.”

“Manipulation?” Ben repeated, feeling like they were having two different conversations where neither of them lined up. “I just said I’m not homophobic – I don’t think you guys kissing is manipulative or bad.”

“I was kissing her to convince her to go to class,” Evie said flatly, brown eyes watching him carefully. “Manipulation.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s not manipulation for two girlfriends to be consensually kissing each other.”

“We’re _not_ girlfriends!” Mal and Evie both denied immediately, voices overlapping with their dissent.

“We _don’t_ love each other,” Mal hurried to say.

“We’re just _allies_ ,” Evie agreed firmly. Ben decided not to draw attention to how they were holding hands, as they seemed to have forgotten their tight-knuckled grip on the other in their fear.

“Well…whatever you want to call it,” Ben finally said, deciding that their denial must be an Isle thing. “There’s nothing wrong with what you two are doing.”

“What about…” Evie started, but Mal squeezed her hand warningly to stop her, shaking her head slightly. Ben wondered what she had been about to say, but he knew them well enough by now that he knew that after Mal had decided that it was a secret, it was going to stay a secret. At least for now.

“Well, I have to get to Fairy Godmother’s office,” Ben told them, finally beginning to move his feet back on their path. “You two ought to get to class.”

He walked away from them, and as he remembered the two of them kissing, he tried to ignore the pain in his chest that told him his heart was breaking.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: the word "slut" is used once, but only in respect that Ben doesn't think any of them are sluts - it is not intended as a slur against anyone, but I wanted to warn y'all just in case. :)

Ben was unable to get the image of Evie and Mal kissing out of his head. Part of it was because he was a teenage boy, and that was undeniably hot to see them like that. But the pain in his heart detracted from his ability to really appreciate it – it only reminded him that there was no place for him in Mal’s heart.

He realized that he was pouting, being melodramatic, but he didn’t bother trying to stop himself. He had hoped for so much, and now it felt like it was all being ripped away, that he hadn’t had a chance to begin with and wasn’t that an awful realization?

After a day though, he forced himself to get over it. He hadn’t brought the four over from the Isle just so that he could have a girlfriend, and he wasn’t going to begrudge the pretty girl he’d been harboring a crush on for being taken already. Never mind what they tried to call it – they were clearly an item.

After taking a step back from it, he was also able to ponder on what they had told him from a more logistical standpoint. They were more afraid of how he interpreted the kissing than the _actual_ kissing – they were very insistent on the point that they were not in love. And Ben realized that it was definitely a holdover from the Isle. Little hints he’d gotten here and there about what the Isle was _really_ like made him realize that Villains must be very against confessing or showing love for each other. So for Mal and Evie, who _were_ in love with each other, it would be natural to insist that they were using each other, manipulating as that was surely what their parents would have encouraged.

Then, he thought back on all of the interactions between Jay and Carlos, and it dawned on him that they must be together, too. This realization was followed by him watching their interactions more closely for proof, and when he knew what he was looking for it was easy to find. The two always had an excuse to touch each other, whether it was by rough housing or one slinging an arm around the other or even jostling each other as they walked. He didn’t ever see them making particularly romantic gestures, but with the habits in mind that Mal and Evie had unwittingly revealed to him, he was fairly certain that they were something of a thing, but it was so slight that they would easily be able to deny it as them being allies if they were called out on it.

But then he noticed something very…odd. At first he doubted himself, and whether or not he had interpreted things wrong. Because if one had Isle rules for love and affection in mind, it seemed like Mal was also with Jay? She touched him as often as Carlos did, though they were much more subtle touches. And he worried about cheating very briefly, before Carlos and Evie had sat down at their table and Mal hadn’t moved her hand from on top of Jay’s forearm that rested on the table, even while she greeted the other two.

Before he could try to reinterpret anything though, Carlos passed a basket of blueberries to Evie, and she daintily kissed his cheek in reward. And maybe for someone in Auradon that would have meant little to nothing. But that was a very obvious tell, at least to Ben, that more was going on between the four of them than he had realized or even suspected.

He sat in his bed one night long before he would have normally gone to bed, light off and staring at the ceiling while he pondered the four Villain Kids and the new information he had discovered in the past several days.

He had heard of polyamory before, though it was mostly spoken of in whispers and undertones, not wanting to sully anyone’s name should rumors prove false. The rumors of Snow White being in a relationship with all seven dwarves was probably the most well-known rumor, though the truthfulness of that one had been doubted just as much when she had married her prince and all seven of the dwarves had married their own respective partners. And Ben would never ask Doug such a personal question, despite have been good friends with him all his life. He had done his own research years ago about polyamory to learn what it was.

Aside from all the rumors, he had never heard of a polyamorous relationship actually _working_. And yet…it seemed to be for the four from the Isle, at least from what Ben could see. Maybe the Isle understood more about love than even Auradon knew.

And, despite himself, he actually found himself encouraged in the face of these new facts. Because the four of them were clearly okay with multiple people loving each other (or manipulating each other, whatever they wanted to call it), and so maybe Mal would possibly…be okay with dating him, too?

He wasn’t going to be one of those people who assumed that he would be automatically accepted, like any of them were sluts for loving more than one, but he did have a little bit of hope now that he might, maybe have a chance.

And, if Mal was okay with it too, he thought that he wouldn’t mind being in a polyamorous relationship. He had known that when he had done his research years ago, but the opportunity had never come up. And maybe this wasn’t necessarily either, but he thought he could be attracted to the other three, too. He was already attracted to Carlos well enough, he suddenly realized, reflecting back on the incident when he had introduced him to Dude. Maybe they wouldn’t mind adding a fifth member…

He didn’t know how he was going to approach it, of course. He didn’t know how he would approach something like that if it was normal and accepted in Auradon, let alone how to approach it in a way with Isle kids so that they wouldn’t immediately get defensive if words like “love” or “relationship” were used. But he did know that he wanted to try.

Now resolved, he threw the blankets off of him, rising from his bed and flicking on the light on his way over to his desk. He needed to start drafting some plans.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanna wrap my poor baby in a hug. Not to worry, though! Next chapter he'll realize that there's not zero hope for him and things will be better after that. He's just gotta be sad for a little bit before he comes to that realization...


End file.
